The Skeleton Key
by blue-tempest
Summary: Nessa Mc Nassa, comes across a strange key. At first she thinks it’s rather useless. Despite being a skeleton key or master key it will open no lock, and what’s the point of having a key that will open no door? But she hold’s onto it , and in time she s
1. Chapter 1

The Skeleton Key 

Nessa Mc Nassa, comes across a strange key. At first she thinks it's rather useless. Despite being a skeleton key (or master key) it will open no lock, and what's the point of having a key that will open no door? But she hold's onto it , and in time she slowly begins to learn its shocking secrets.

"It's meant to be a skeleton key"

Tara informed me with a solemn sigh.

"But it wont open any lock, old or otherwise"

With a raised eyebrow I put down my news paper.

"Well,"

I intoned as I examined the old tarnished key.

"The man did say that it dates back to Victorian times correct?"

The tall brunette nodded her head in agreement.

"Correct."

She replied in a chirp tone as I turned the key over in my hands.

"Well then..."

I said in a matter of fact tone as I placed the key back onto the table top.

"I'm sure it will work perfectly well on a Victorian lock."

With that said I picked up my paper and once again began to read as Tara began to whine beside me.

"But...But... I spent all of my pocket money on it... and now I find out that its completely and utterly useless!"

With eyes closed I released a little sigh. She'd be at this all day. All week even if I didn't do something about it.

"How much was it?"

I asked in a board tone as I considered the key. It was attractive in its own right. Made of a shiny (although currently tarnished) metal, what I wasn't entirely sure (maybe pewter or silver even?). It was long and slender at about 15 centimetres (6 inches) in length . The head of the key was fashioned into the shape of a human skull. Two small garnet stones rested in the eye sockets and winked in the light. I rather liked it really. If I polished it up a bit it would make a nice (if not large) pendent.

"40 Euros, way too much I know, but I thought it would be sort of cool..."

I considered this for a moment.

"I'll give you 25 Euro for it..."

"Deal!"

It wasn't a normal key. Far from it in fact, but I didn't realise this at first. At first I thought it was a key with no purpose. It would fit no lock (to my knowledge) and open no door. For that was the use of a key, to open doors and this key would open no door. To me, the key was totally useless. I was wrong of course, but I wouldn't find that out till much later.

For a long time it merely hung from a silver chain around my neck. Once it was shinned with a little polish of course. Many people commented on how unusual it was, and I took a strange kind of pride in that. My key became a large part of me. I wore it every where I went. To school under my uniform, out as a fashion accessory and even to bed. It was a comfortable weight on my chest and, in a strange way, I knew I would miss it if it wasn't there.

It wasn't until I had owned the key for nearly a year before I noticed something was... off... about it... and it happened in a cliche kind of way as well.

I was walking home for school one winters evening. I left later then usual that evening. I had stayed after class to study for an upcoming exam. it was almost 6 o'clock by the time I left and it was dark out. Very dark and windy too. The weather man had forecasted a storm for that night. I was hoping against all hope that I would make it home before it got too bad.

In my hast to make it home as quickly as possible I cut thought some fields, it should have cut 15 minutes off my walk home. I realised my mistake 10 minutes later. Despite the fact that I knew these fields like the back of my hand (having spent the past fifteen years playing in them) I had gotten myself lost. It wasn't a matter of not knowing my way round the fields.

On a good day, when the weather was good and it was still light out I could easily navigate my way through but with the wind blowing so strongly and the beginnings of heavy rain, adding to the uneven ground and long wild grasses I was hopelessly lost. I couldn't see a thing. So it wasn't too surprising when I dumped into an old abandoned tower house in the middle of one of the fields a full 25 minutes into my 'short cut'.

I was cold and wet and miserable. A terrible combination. With trebling hands I felt my way towards the large wooden door Mr Kelly (the owner of the field) had had put into the doorway of the tower house many years ago. I pushed at the sturdy old door fully expecting it to open then crushed. The door was locked.. It frustrated the hell out of me. With hooded eyes I glared down at the old, rusting lock. A distant part of my mind noted that the lock was big... and the idea strook me. I had a large skeleton key...

It was a long shot, I knew, but I was desperate. I needed the shelter from the elements if only to ring home on my cell and tell my parents that I was ok and only two fields away in the tower house (instead of on the other side of town or walking down a dangerous country road in the dark) . With a little sigh I pulled my key out from under my school jumper and keep it at eye level. I gazed at it with flat eyes.

"I've taken good care of you key,"

I told it in a dead lifeless drone. A tone I only ever took when I was annoyed as hell with someone or something.

"I liberated you off of my psychotic cousin, polished you up and gave you a nice, warm ,dry place to stay."

My eyes narrowed further in a hopeless effort to keep the unrelenting rain out of my eyes, the key remaining in my sight the whole time. The key's silvery skull's head caught in some unseen light and the garnet red eyes flashed at me in such a way, that it almost seemed as if there was a life to the key┘ and there was┘ although I didn't realise it at that moment in time.

"The least you could do for me is open this lock."

With a little shake of my head I closed my eyes and pushed the key into the lock. I was pleasantly surprised to find that The key, did in fact, fit the lock. With a hopeful heart I turned the key slowly and was reworded with a load, audible click. The key had worked. With a satisfied smile I pushed the door open and stepped inside the tower house and closed the door behind me, my eyes remained closed the whole time.

I stood there for a moment with my eyes closed. Simply savouring the fact that I was out of the wind and rain. It was after a few seconds that I noticed the warmth with caused my brows to furrow. The tower house was made entirely of stone. Its walls over a meter thick (about 3 feet 3 inches), so it was cool even in summer. Absolutely freezing in winter.

With some confusion I opened my eyes to a startling discovery. I was in the hall of my house. I blinked once. Then twice. Then I rubbed my eyes, in total disbelieve. I turned round and stared at the white front door, then down at the key in my hand. Its red eyes glowed eerily in its silver skull and its fixed skeletal grin seemed somehow wider.

"Ah! There you are Nessa, dear,"

I jumped at the sudden voice of my mother and whipped around quickly to stare at her, hiding the key behind my back like a guilty child. My mother eyed me for a second before continuing on her rant.

"I was beginning to worry about you! Why didn't you call me and tell me you were going to be late?"

I could do noting but continue to stare at her with gazed eyes. I was still too confused (not to mention freaked out )about what had just happened. My mother either didn't notice my distress of chose to ignore it continued on with a shake of her head.

"Never mind..."

She sighed and shook her head.

"go upstairs and change, dinners ready."

I didn't respond verbally, merely trudged up the stares to my room. I didn't utter a word for the rest of the evening. Which earned me some odd stares from my family. But to be honest, even if an UFO crash landed in my living room that night and Elvis himself jumped out and began to sing 'Love Me Tender' I wouldn't have been more surprised then I was then.

I went to bed early that night. My key resting heavily on my chest. For the first time it wasn't such a comforting presence, but for the life of me I couldn▓t take it off.


	2. Chapter 2

I felt tired. Very, very tired, not to mention upset, but then again who wouldn't be upset when the foundations that their entire world was based on was turning to ashes?

For the next 3 days I went about my daily life in a kind of mindless daze. I did everything I usually did but I wasn't all there. Looking back on it now, I guess I was in shock. Denial even. When ever anyone asked if I was ok, I'd tell them I was fine. Everything was fine. There was absolutely noting wrong, with me, the world or the space time continuum what so ever… As you can imagine I got a few odd looks… especially for the last comment.

I think I had a brake down of sorts. There was no crying or tantrums involved (which I'll readily ambit I'm prone to), but rather a chilling numbness had set in. I may have been losing my mind but cold hard logic hadn't left me yet, and my own personal motto had been (and still remains);

"When in doubt, go analytical."

And my logic dictated that I couldn't simply ignore the matter (no matter how tempting) I had to get to the bottom of this conundrum. So on the 4th day, I realised, begrudgingly, that I had to do something, if only to salvage a small portion of my rationality. So I decided to conduct a few experiments. I was, naturally, wary of the key that hung from my neck. Any time I even dared look at it, it looked as if (at least in my own mind) that it was looking right back at me, grinning merrily. I swear once I thought I saw it wink at me!

I was also frightened of what answers my experiment would yield. At that point in time I deduced that my experiments with the key would lead to 1 of 2 conclusions.

Conclusion A;

I was losing my mind.

Or

Conclusion B;

The key was mag…

I couldn't even think the word. This wasn't Harry Potter, damn it! Be analytical!

Conclusion B #2;

The key, was a devise, that had the ability to some how bend space… to create a controlled wormhole (of sorts)… that responded to the desire of the person using it…

I wasn't really sure which was the most desirable outcome. Insanity or something as illogical as a… devise that could bend space… If the result of my little experiment was in fact conclusion B#2 would that mean that the boogie man was real? Was there fairies at the bottom of the garden? And did all my missing socks really end up in a magical sock realm which was accessible through a vortex behind the dryer?

It was a Sunday morning when I decided to conduct my first experiment with the key. Everyone else was at mass so I had a few hours to myself (my mother and father usually visited my Grandmother after Sunday mass and my older brother would usually meet up with friends) It made sense to go back to where, in my mind it all started. Blake's Castle.

During the day it was an imposing building against a bleak landscape, the grey stone of the tower blending in perfectly with the drab sky. It had rained almost constantly for the last 3 days (which was noting new) and the sod squished under my feet. By the time I got to the Blake's Castle the bottoms of my jeans were soaked and my feet drenched.

"Well. I guess this is it."

I announced in a calm even voice. My tone boasting more confidence then I truly felt. With a shaking hand I reached forward towards the lock skeleton key in hand. I pushed it into the lock. Or at least I tried to. It didn't fit!

"The hell?"

I glanced down at the key hole. It was much too small for the key to fit…

"Now that doesn't make any sense at all… Unless I really did imagine it all… but… I don't have that good an imagination do I?"

to tell the truth, I didn't really know what I had expected to happen. For something as strange and magical to occur ? I had always believed myself to be a rational person. Science and logic ruled all. There wasn't a question that couldn't be answered or problem that couldn't be solved by science. This was the most logical outcome after all.

Even after my experiment had failed I couldn't bring myself to believe I was going mad. Maybe, I was highly delusional that night, brought on by the stress of being lost or maybe…what had happened that stormy night really happened. I was torn. I both wanted what happened to be real and not be real at the same time, because if it was real then I wasn't going mad (or having a seriously unnerving laps in sanity) but the whole theory was like a double edged sword. If it was true then I couldn't explain what happened . And that would be irksome.

I slid down to sit on the wet ground my back turned to the door. I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my head on them. My mind was in a haze as I tried to relive the night in my head. I tried to remember everything about it, the way I felt, my state of mind at the time.

I had been wet and tired and all I had wanted was to go home…

A dog barked in the distance and my head rose. When I had first tired to open the door, yes it had been my desire but my true desire that night was to open my front door… it was there the entire time I had sagged against the building and fought the raging winds to find the door.

I rose to my feet and turned to face Blake's castle. I looked at the key in my hand.

"I want to open this door."

I told it. I meant it too. At that one moment in time there was noting I wanted more because…

"And when I do, I'll be in my bed room at home…"

It would prove once and for all if I was mad or not.

With a calming breath I walked towards the door. My hand was steady now. I exhaled and pushed the key into the lock. It fit. I tried to squash my growing excitement. Metal could both expand and contract, it was one of its better known properties.

I kept the key in the lock for a second before doing anything else. When I was once again calm I turned the key and heard the clink that meant the lock had yielded to my key. I took an other deep breath and pushed open the door… To see my bedroom… the same as I had left it… I looked behind me to see the field I had been standing in moments before. I stepped through the doorframe and closed the door behind me, then opened it again to see the white wall of the upstairs landing in my home. I once again closed my bedroom door. My reaction was immediate. I promptly fainted.

Many sorries at its shortness, but I wanted to update something and this was the best that I could get out, I have at least the next two chapters paned out so hopefully I'll be able to get them out soon. Thanks for the reviews, they are really encouraging! I Love em !


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